NPD blamed part of the weakness on a difficult comparison with 2009′s April period, which included the Easter holiday, while this year’s did not. It was the industry’s worst year-over-year decline since July of last year.

“In April ’09, consumers attributed $55 million of industry sales to Easter as a purchase occasion, which would account for about 21% of the decline from last year since Easter purchasing happened in March this year,” wrote NPD analyst Anita Frazier in the report Thursday.

The top selling game in April was Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction.

(via GamersGame.com)

2010 BAFTA Video Game Awards Winners

* Best Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios
* Best Action Game: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Naughty Dog
* Artistic Achievement: Flower, thatgamecompany
* Best Family & Social Game: Wii Sports Resort, Nintendo
* Best Gameplay: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios
* Best Handheld Game: LittleBigPlanet PSP, SCE Cambridge / XDEV
* Best Multiplayer Game: Left 4 Dead 2, Valve Software
* Best Original Score: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Naughty Dog
* Best Sports Game: FIFA 10, Electronic Arts
* Best Story: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Naughty Dog
* Best Use of Audio: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Naughty Dog
* Best Use of Online: FIFA 10, Electronic Arts

(via GamersGame.com)

Hopefully, Best Buy has the @gamer Twitter account if they are launching a magazine called @Gamer. The account has been registered by someone, but it is currently not being used.

(via Dealerscope)

I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization. Ever since we finished Civilization Revolution last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks. We’re calling this project Civilization Network and the full game will be available next year on Facebook. Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization. You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World. The game will offer everything you enjoy in Civ in a fully persistent environment – you can play as much as you like, whenever you like, and it’ll be free to play.

We’ll offer a closed beta of the game soon, so stay tuned for details on how you can sign-up to participate. The full game will launch in 2010. For more information about Civilization Network, including development updates and behind-the-scenes posts from me and the Firaxis team, join our Facebook fanpage here.

The Facebook plan is interesting but maybe it would be smarter to have an open online game with a Facebook app. There’s no guarantee that Facebook is going to remain popular. The Civilization Network also has a Twitter account, @civnetwork. Information about Civilization Revolution can be found here:

http://civilizationrevolution.com/

(via Mashable)

But what if you are one of those gamers who want to keep up with all the latest stuff? Where can you get all the information about new releases?

There are many websites that offer gaming news, but what about ones that focus on keeping us up-to-date about RPGs?

First, let’s define a few terms. There are online RPG games, and there are RPGs that you play offline (board games and on computers and game consoles). The online RPG games include free games and those you must pay to play. MMORPG is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (the best kind, right? Just a joke, but my preference!).

In this article I’m not going to give you a huge list of websites. However, I want to share just a few that you may want to investigate in your gaming quest. These are sites you will probably want to bookmark if you really love to keep up on the latest news about RPGs.

RPGWatch

http://www.rpgwatch.com

This site could be described as a news blog, with additional features like a games database, forums, and articles. The database includes listings of new releases and expected releases. The forums are not huge, but there is a decent level of activity. There are game-specific forums so you may find these helpful for finding discussions about specific games.

mmorpg

http://www.mmorpg.com

This site is a flashy site that offers some different kinds of resources. Their Game List is a long listing of individual games that has an interface allowing you to create a custom games list. Your custom list can be such criteria as release date, genre, developer, and publisher. This site’s Features section gives you access to articles. Their Forums are fairly active, and defined by topic rather than by specific game. The forums include “The Pub” (discussion of MMORPGs), News Discussion, and LFGame (Looking For Game; for help in finding the MMO that suits you best). This site also has sections on news, photos, videos, blogs, reviews, and a huge Guild List.

ONRPG

http://www.onrpg.com

This site is quite “busy”, packed with features. The homepage shows news, videos, downloads, screenshots, events, and articles. There is a nice section on “Free MMO Games” that allows access to information by categories. There is also a “Quick MMO Menu” that is really an alphabetical listing of games. There is also an interface called “MMO Genres” that can get you started looking at specific games according to genre. Finally, the “MMO Boards” listing gives you access to fairly active forums that are mostly game-specific discussions.

Learn, Participate, Have Fun.

By digging into the above three sites, you will be immersing yourself in sources of online RPG game news. You will also be able to participate in active communities where people share an interest in MMORPGs or offline or online RPG games. If you’re a real RPG fanatic, you won’t want to miss these sites.

Shooter Games

AssaultCube is a first-person shooter
http://assault.cubers.net

Cube 2: Sauerbraten is a 3D first-person shooter with integrated map editing mode
http://sauerbraten.org

Nexuiz is a first-person shooter
http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz

Project: Starfighter a multi-directional, objective based shooter game
http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk/projects/starfighter.php

Urban Terror is a standalone Quake III Arena first-person shooter
http://www.urbanterror.info/news/home

Warsow is a Quake-like, fast-paced first-person shooter
http://www.warsow.net

Strategy Games

Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game
http://www.wesnoth.org

Glest is a real-time strategy game, with optional multiplayer
http://glest.org/en/index.php

References:

Open Source Games at the Open Directory Project
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Open_Source/Software/Games/

Linux Gaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_gaming

Open Source Video Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_video_game

The Warrior Life.

To really get “in the groove”, I choose a game that lets me play the role of a fighter. A role playing game (RPG) is one that lets my imagination get into the situation, into the world created just for a particular game. An online war RPG game lets me live through the game character, fighting for my survival and struggling to do as much damage (earn the most points) as I make my way through the map.

Zero In.

There are lots of online war RPG games, so let me give you a guide of the features to look for so you will be able to get down to enjoying the kind of game that you like.

Free and Paid.

First of all, there are both paid and free online games. To play some of the games, you must pay first. If you choose the free games, however, beware that many are set up to entice you to pay for various features. These games let you start for free, but charge you for special weapons, maps, or enhancements.

Important Tip for Registering.

Many of the online games make you register, or sign up, for an account before you can play, even if playing the games is free. Especially when you are not too familiar with a site, it’s best to use a “disposable” free email address to sign up. That way, if the site starts spamming you and you can’t unsubscribe, you can just ignore it.

Security First.

Next, beware that you can play games that run in your browser, or games that run as programs on your computer. Unless you are short on disk space, there is no reason to limit your selections to browser games. However, be sure to scan any files you download with a good antivirus program before you install (run) them.

Read the Documentation.

Another thing to watch out for is that some online war RPG games only pit you against the built-in challenges in the game itself. Others let you play against other people online. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish which characters are generated by the computer and which are controlled by actual players (people). Find out who controls the characters by checking the documentation for the your particular game.

What it Takes to Start Playing – a Warning!

Another warning is that you should be careful when looking for games to play online.

Some of them require you to complete special offers before you can play. The offers may require you to buy things or sign up for services. Look at each screen when you visit a site for the first time, so that you aren’t caught off-guard.

Here’s How to Get Going.

What’s the best way to get started? Just visit a search engine (like Google or Bing) and put in the search term “online war rpg game”. You can then investigate the sites in the search results one by one.

Use Available Search Functions.

Another tip for finding a cool online war RPG game is to visit a site that shows many online games, then narrow your selection to war games. This is only possible on sites that let you search the games, or ones that display categorized listings of games.

One to Get You Started.

If you want to jump to a site right away, here is one to give you a head start:

http://www.mpog100.com

This site lists the 100 top multi-player online games as judged by visitors to the site. It covers more than war games, but you can usually find some good online war RPG games in their list. The bonus is that the games you find will be highly rated by other gamers, giving you a good chance for a positive game experience.

Have fun!

In the early days in the development of video game systems, we had the Atari video game system. It offered wholesome games such as Pac-Man or Space Invaders. At first the number of available games was not great, and these were only fun and wholesome games devoid of adult or inappropriate content.

Your personal computer (PC) may be able to play many of the thousands of PC games available. If you already have a PC, this may be the best platform. However, it’s also good to learn about the modern systems dedicated to game play, as they do provide an incredible gaming experience in some cases not available from a PC.

Now there is a large selection of video game systems that offer an incredibly wide selection of games. The systems include the Sony PlayStation 2 and 3, the Nintendo GameCube and DS (and variants), and the Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360. These video game systems can use any computer monitor or modern wide-screen TV for video display.

If you have very young kids, and want to get a video game system at low price, you could look for a used Nintendo GameCube console. There are plenty of games for that unit rated E for everyone, and suitable for very young children. Your tots will love it, and you can always get a more expensive console later on as your kids grow older.

Portable Platforms

If you are interested in a portable game platform, you may want to check out the Sony PlayStation Portable, or PSP. Other options are the Nintendo DS or DS Lite or DSi. These portable video game systems offer good selection of games, but of course the screens are quite small.

If you are concerned about your parental responsibility, you may be glad to learn that some of the modern gaming systems include parental controls. The Nintendo DS and DS Lite both use access code systems so that parents can control downloads, Internet access, and photo sharing.

Consoles for Home Use

For home use, the more modern consoles include the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Nintendo Wii. These are currently the leaders in modern video game systems for the home.

Xbox 360

There are over 500 games available for the Xbox 360. Online play is available through a subscription service called “Xbox 360 Live”. Some games have a multiplayer online mode. There are many accessories available for the Xbox 360, including gaming automobile steering wheel and pedals, guitar and other musical instruments, dance pad, and auxiliary cooling systems (some Xbox 360 units have experienced problems with overheating).

The Xbox 360 can play movies from multiple sources, and offers parental controls called Family Settings to allow control over the types of games and films that kids can play or view, based on content ratings. It also allows control of the types of interaction on Xbox 360 Live service. Note that the default Family Settings are for full access, so you will need to configure it for your kids.

PS3

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) also has multimedia capabilities, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc, and allows online play through the free PlayStation Network. There are at least 400 games available, and the same kinds of accessories as described above for Xbox 360.

The PS3 and PSP have parental controls that restrict the types of games that can be played and downloaded, as well as video content that can be viewed.

Wii

The Nintendo Wii started a revolution in gaming systems with its wireless remote, called the Wii Remote or Wiimote. It can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three dimensions. This provides a superior level of interactivity that translates into lots of fun! In 2007 the Wii Fit game let parents see that video gaming could involve giving the kids some exercise! Now there are more than 500 games for the Wii, and by connecting multiple controllers up to 4 people can play a game (for certain games designed for that). Online play is available through the free Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Again, the accessories described for the Xbox 360 are also available for the Wii.

The Wii offers parental controls for game playing and Internet use (content and messaging). Game playing settings use age ratings.

Game Selection

You pretty much can’t go wrong when choosing one of the modern video game systems like Xbox 360 or PS3. Be aware that some games are available across multiple game systems, but some are only available on a specific one. That may be a consideration if your kid is really intent on playing a particular game that can only be played on one of the console systems!

Well that gives you a summary of choices for video game systems. Now if you want some help deciding on which games to get your kids, click here.

Parental Oversight

Parental oversight is an important responsibility, especially in this age of online predators. Content inappropriate for young people is readily available on the Internet. It’s the parent’s responsibility to protect their kids and to help them learn healthy habits and behaviors.

Regulating What Kids are Exposed To

To regulate your kids’ exposure to inappropriate Internet content, it’s best to use a combination of filtering and direction. Filtering is easily achieved by an online content filtering service, filtering software on your computer, or by filtering on the gateway device on your local area network. Filtering helps to reduce access to inappropriate or unwanted content.

Direction is the positive influence you have on your kids’ access to Internet content. By being proactive and finding appropriate sites for them to visit to play games or learn, you can direct their time for a good outcome. You should also limit the time they spend online, and ensure they get sufficient variety in their activities, including time outdoors and social time with friends of similar age.

How To Choose the Content

So how do you find a kids online game site that your children will enjoy, with the kinds of games that are appropriate for the age of your kids, and their interests?

The answer is that it takes a little digging. First, start with a popular online game site. That will be the first step, and the next step is to check it out, read more about the games, and even try them out yourself.

That’s the only way to really be sure that you are choosing the very best kids online game site for your children. You must spend some time and do your own research. That way you will know that your kids are going have an enjoyable experience and will not be dealing with content that is not appropriate for their age(s).

Time Limitations

Make sure that you are monitoring how long your kid spends on the computer. You may want to limit their total daily time to a half hour, or make the time conditional on completing other chores first.

Rewards

The best way to provide your children access to great kids online game sites is to offer that access only as a reward. In other words, let them play the games only after they have completed their homework, or have eaten all their dinner (at least their vegetables!). Once they have completed the tasks you want them to do, you can tell them they get a half hour of playing on a kid’s online game site.

Using a system of rewards helps your kids to be more motivated. When they get rewarded for good behaviors, they do those specific actions more easily, as they have been reinforced by rewards. Spending some time at a popular online game site is a great reward for kids, as long as it is moderated.

Be Involved

Your kids will accept limitations more readily if you direct or guide them by getting them started on a website of your own choosing. This shows you care about them, even their play time, and lets you control the content.

Kids Need Varied Activities

Be sure your kid is active with other pursuits, and is socializing with others of the same age range. Kids need to have a balance of activities so they will come to value things like physical exercise, learning, hard work, and care for other people.

Fun, Learning, and Leisure

If you find a great kids online game site that has suitable games that are age-appropriate for your kids, they are going to have a great time and also be improving their brain power. Remember, you do have more control when your kid is enjoying their time in your home, and the outcome will be good when you are directing their activities.

You might want to check out these other articles about (or related to) online gaming for kids:

Free Online Games for Kids

Video Games Good for Kids, and Adults?

Is Your Teen Obsessed with Video Games?

Find Your Favorite Online Games

What are Some of The Best Online Game Sites?

The Variety of Free Online Gaming

If you’re an adult trying to buy a game for a young person, you will appreciate some guidance. The following advice is meant to give you a practical plan.

1. Do some research before you buy.

First, you will want to find out which game system your youngster plays. HINT: If you don’t own a game system already, you may want to check out this post on selecting a gaming system that’s right for you.

Here is a list of some of the most popular systems, so you can look up the meaning of all those strange letters.

DS = Nintendo’s DS System; related ones includ DS Lite, and DSi
EA Sports = Entertainment Arts System
GCN (or NGC) = Nintendo GameCube
PC = Personal Computer
PS2 = Sony PlayStation 2 System, successor to PlayStation
PS3 = Sony Playstation 3 System, successor to PlayStation 2
PSP = Sony PlayStation Portable System
Wii = Nintendo’s Wii System, successor to GameCube
XBOX 360 = Microsoft’s XBOX 360 System, successor to Xbox

If possible, find out what video games your youngster already has. Then you can keep those off your shopping list. You can also ask your kid which games they may have tried and enjoyed, but don’t own yet. These little interviews can be quite helpful in letting you purchase video games your kids will really enjoy!

So, how do you find what games are available? There’s plenty of information available about video games online. The retail “brick and mortar” stores also have websites. They will have a link to the games section, often via a menu with selections according to the different gaming systems. Use the abbreviations above to find the links on the websites to see what video games are available for a particular gaming system. If you can’t find that kind of link, try using the site’s internal search engine to search on the gaming system of interest.

2. Investigate available games for your youngster’s gaming system.

Here is where you need to use discernment to make a list of video games appropriate for your youngster’s age and interests. Fortunately we have some help with this task. There is a rating system used to label each game with an age-appropriate abbreviation. Here is a brief reference for this Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) system, showing the label abbreviation, and the meaning.

C = Appropriate for Early childhood
E = Appropriate for Everyone
E 10+ = Appropriate for Everyone aged 10 and older
T = Appropriate for Teens
M = Appropriate for Mature Adults
AO = Adults Only

It’s up to you whether you will try to find a video game that is educational, or that has no (or limited) violence or profanity. Appropriate games will be ones that fit your kid’s age, and your own standards. It can be a bit difficult to find games that don’t involve at least some form of violence, so if you want detailed reviews of a game you may have to use a search engine and do some digging.

One thing to keep in mind about video games is that you can look at the artwork associated with the games, but this will not tell you everything about the game. As they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover. However, you can often get a pretty good idea about the game. For example, if the illustration on the cover of a game shows warriors fighting with swords, the game will likely involve violence.

Eliminating a game from your list can sometimes be done by looking at the artwork. However, don’t make your final decision to buy based only on the artwork. Take some time to learn a little more about a game before you buy. Once you have a game title to research, it’s easy to use a search engine to find detailed reviews of the game online.

3. Now that you have a temporary shopping list, the next step is to choose specific titles.

Here are some ideas to help you narrow down your search. After all, it can be overwhelming to choose a video game if you find the number of games available for your kid’s system is huge. After you’ve eliminated games your kid already has, think about what KIND of games he or she enjoys. This might help you narrow down your list to shooter games, or role-paying fantasy games, or car games, for example.

Another way to narrow down your list is to look for games related to a recent movie release or a popular cartoon character. If there is a recent movie or cartoon character your kid loves, look for a game that is related.

A great way to ensure your kid will enjoy your gift is to rent a few games first. Give your youngster enough time to try out each game, then sit down and get feedback on them. Select one(s) to buy based on the level of enjoyment of the rented games. That gives you a sure way to select a winner!

4. Buying games.

You can buy video games online (for example, on the websites of the game stores), or you can visit your local games center.

One advantage of visiting a store in your area is that you can ask questions and get some potentially helpful answers from the people at the store. Remember, you don’t have to ask only the staff at the store. You can talk to customers and ask what they recommend. Maybe you will meet some other parents of young gamers, and they will share ideas with you.

Have fun getting games that your young gamers will love!